Sunday, February 15, 2015

Snippet Sunday: Excerpt from A Heart of Little Faith by Jennifer Wilck

He stared at her, bedazzled. He
only intended to look for a moment, but she turned around and met his eyes.
Caught red-handed he contemplated turning around, but that would be cowardly.
He couldn’t continue to stare at her without appearing either moronic or rude,
especially since he hated when people stared at him. He inhaled and tried to
muster up a smile, when another man approached her. Breaking their gaze, she
turned and smiled at him. Gideon inched closer. He heard her engage the other
man in casual conversation before she gently excused herself. As the other man
walked off, she turned back to Gideon and smiled. Her green cat eyes pierced
his soul and made him believe she could see right through him. He continued to
watch her, entranced.

“Hasn’t anyone taught you it’s
impolite to stare?”

Struck by the irony of her
question, he burst into warm laughter and shook her outstretched hand. Her soft
cool hand fit completely within his hard, callused one and he closed his other
hand over hers. He felt the delicate veins beneath her skin, her pulse beating
in her wrist and wished to prolong the skin-on-skin contact for as long as
possible. Reluctantly, he let it go.

“I’m Gideon.”

“Lily.”

“Are you a fan?”

Lily stared at him blankly for a
moment and blinked quickly. “Oh, of the artist’s?” She turned once more to look
at the painting, tilting her head to the right. “Not exactly. He’s a little
too…”

“Much? Bright? Vulgar?”

Lily laughed. “I see you’re a
huge fan. No, maybe, I don’t know. The colors are cheery, if only maybe there
weren’t so many. But looking at it does brighten my mood.”

“Bad day at work?”

“Terrible. But why are you here
if you don’t like the artist?”

Gideon turned and pointed to
Samantha on the other side of the room. “She’s my sister.”

Lily raised her eyebrows as she
looked over at the gallery owner.

“Oh, Samantha’s my best friend.
I didn’t realize you were her brother. So I guess she roped you into this too?”

He sat back and gave her what he
hoped was a relaxed grin. “Brotherly duty, or some such nonsense. Apparently I
pulled one too many pigtails as a child and this is my penance.”

Lily laughed. She has a great laugh, he thought. It
lit up her whole face. “Samantha had pigtails?”

The two of them turned to look
at Samantha, currently sporting short and spiky jet-black hair, with small
rhinestone barrettes scattered throughout. “You’ll have to fill me in more
later,” Lily added, as she stifled a yawn.

“What, is it my stimulating
conversation, or these garish paintings that bores you?” Gideon asked, one
eyebrow raised.

Lily apologized. “I’m sorry. I
had a long day at work and I’m exhausted. I wasn’t even going to come, but
Samantha begged.”

“She tends to do that. I’ve told
her it isn’t a pleasing trait, but why should she listen to me? I’m only her
big brother.”